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February 16, 2013

Fellow Ice Explorer

A snow petrel, photographed during the Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem Experiment (SIPEX-II) in fall 2012, floats over the ocean off Antarctica. These seabirds depend on sea ice, which serves as a grazing ground for krill, tiny crustaceans that thrive on algae growing on the underside of the iceand serve as food for seabirds and marine mammals. As sea ice retreats in a warming world, snow petrels have to fly farther to obtain food. On the expedition, WHOI researchers Clay Kunz and Peter Kimball deployed their lab's Jaguar vehicle to map the undersides of four sea ice floes to better understand how they form and change. (Photo by Peter Kimball, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)